Tent pegs from potato starch mandatory at UK festival

The Glastonbury music festival will tell campers to use tent pegs made out of potatoes at this summer's event.

Metal pegs that are left behind can harm the cows that live on Worthy Farm, Somerset, where the festival is held.

Organiser Michael Eavis will instead ask fans to use a "very stout"biodegradable peg made of potato starch that is used in the turf industry.

"So we're going to force people to use the tent pegs and not use the wire ones. Potato starch, they're actually made from."

Different prototypes have been tested, with organisers looking for something that is very strong during the festival but breaks down in the ground over subsequent months.

The move is one of a range of measures to be announced in March aimed at reducing the environmental impact of the festival under the slogan "leave no trace".